80,000 Afghan Refugees Earned Their New Home
Refugees who aided US troops in Afghanistan have earned permanent legal status and there’s bipartisan support for it.
Afghan refugees deserve a permanent home in the US.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images.
Nearly 80,000 Afghan refugees are waiting — in vain so far — for Congress to make good on a pledge to allow them to make the US their permanent home. These refugees are distinctly different from others: They risked everything to help U.S. troops in the 20-year Afghanistan war, providing critical translation services, intelligence gathering and myriad other tasks upon which troops depended.
Now, another chance to fulfill that promise is gone. An intense effort by a bipartisan coalition of senators to attach permanent status for these refugees to the bill for to provide $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel has come to naught. The bill passed overnight on Monday, but without the amendment that would have ended the refugees’ limbo.